Indian sprinter Dutee Chand to challenge 4-year ban by NADA

Indian sprinter Dutee Chand, who won two silver medals in the Asian Games, will challenge the four-year ban imposed on her by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA). She had failed the dope test of banned substances outside the tournament of NADA.

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The 27-year-old Dutee was banned by Nada over failed dope test on Thursday. The 100m national record holder's 2 samples were taken in December last year. They were found to contain other anabolic agents - SARMS, which are on WADA's 2023 banned substances list. After that, these samples were taken on 5 and 26 December and both were found positive for the same substance.

Meanwhile, SARMS are non-steroidal substances. These are commonly used for osteoporosis (bone-related disease), anaemia (lack of blood), and in patients recovering from wounds. The ban on Dutee Chand will be effective from January 3 this year. All her competitive results from the date of the first sample drawn on December 5, 2022, will be deleted. While Dutee Chand's lawyer Parth Goswami told news agency PTI on Friday that the player has been a clean athlete throughout her professional career and it was a case of inadvertent consumption of the substance.

Earlier, Dutee Chand won silver medals in 100m and 200m events at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. She also holds the national record of 11.17 seconds in 100m from 2021. Goswami said, "For us, this is a clear case of unintentional consumption of a banned substance. We were clearly able to establish the source of the substance in the body, which is a substantial proof of lack of intent. The substance was never used to gain any sporting advantage."

"We are in process of filing an appeal. We are hopeful that we will be able to convince the appeal panel. Dutee is the pride of India and is a clean athlete. She has had an illustrious career of over a decade. She has undergone hundreds of dope tests internationally and nationally and has always been clean in her long career." added Goswami.

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Dutee Chand and her lawyer had also claimed before the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP) of NADA that it was a case of inadvertent consumption.

"The athlete and her counsel had without refuting the findings of the NDTL (National Dope Testing Laboratory) report stated that the consumption of the said substance was unintentional and the ingestion of the same had been advised by the physiotherapist who was being regularly consulted by the athlete," said the ADDP order.